Friday, May 18, 2012

Family Friday: My mother and peanut sauce

What can I
say to make this woman justice? She gave birth to me, raised me and now she’s
my great friend who’s always there for me. She’s my mother. She is also a very
strong, caring and capable woman in many more ways than I think she realizes herself.

To choose a
recipe for this post was nearly impossible, as her influence on me when it
comes to food is endless. She taught me to like appreciate food, and the taught
me how to cook it. She can master most kitchens and techniques, but her bread
baking skills could use some perfection. However, I had to choose, so I settled
with a recipe that has been eaten in my family for as long as I can remember.
It’s a peanut sauce. Don’t yawn, it’s not your average peanut sauce. It’s
thick, creamy, chunky and bursting with flavor. It goes great with noodles,
rice or maybe best of all, barbecued veggies. I remember being sent out in the
garden to pick as much cilantro as I could carry and bringing it inside for
this sauce. Try it, you won’t regret it.

Peanut sauce

1 tbs oil

5 g minced fresh ginger

1 small finely diced yellow onion150 g peanuts

4 tbs finely chopped lemon balm leaves

1 tsp mild yellow curry powder

2 tbs sugar

salt, to taste

250 ml coconut milk

Fry the ginger and onion in a sauce pan in the oil until soft but now browned. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes. Using an immersion blender, blend it a little bit until desired consistency. I like it chunky.

This time, I had it with some basmati rice, tomato, mushroom tibs from Appetite for Reduction) (loved them) and sautéed chard with garlic.